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For this business owner, success is not just measured by profits — it’s also reflected in the personal and career growth your team has achieved.
Ping Han is the co-owner of Place Sunnybank, which opened its doors in 2016. The Brisbane south-based agency, which Ms Han leads with her husband, Owen Chen, currently has seven lead agents and touts an $8 million settlement record this year.
While the firm is now at the top of its game by hitting its financial targets, and with notable accolades under its name, including REIQ’s Medium Residential Agency of the Year 2022, Ms Han considers the greatest testament to their business’ success is the team that she and Mr Chen have created together.
“Growth for us isn’t just about gross commission income (GCI). I want my team ticking their personal goals and professional goals, unstressed but productive and having their own growth path within our business.
“We all have challenges, but I take ownership of that and build solutions around my team,” she stated.
Deemed as one of the driving forces of the phenomenal growth of the business, Ms Han is also Place Sunnybank’s investment efficiency specialist and is credited for rebuilding the internal process over a year ago.
The leadership duo operate on the belief that “everyone has the opportunity to succeed in real estate” — which they consider as their formula for success.
“We have a very efficient support team, and our two-million-dollar writers do not need to have an admin person or marketing person in their team,” Ms Han said.
Ms Han’s strong academic background — characterised by several degrees under her belt, including bachelor of engineering and a master’s degree in applied finance, and her being a certified public accountant to boot — allowed her to be an asset to business when it comes to problem solving and process improvement and training.
The business owner cited her “star performer”, Jason Song, as living proof of how their internal process of focusing and playing to their team members’ individual strengths and skills have paid off.
Mr Song, who is now a partner in the business, started at Place Sunnybank four years ago and settled around 20 homes in his first year with Place.
“My desk is next to Jason, and for a period, I think he was busy, but not productive. He needed to build the fundamentals of growth, not just focus on cash flow. We tweaked his strategy a little, and that was the sliding door moment for Jason,” Ms Han said.
Ms Han revealed that last year, Mr Song wrote a massive $2.4 million in fees and handled over 100 deals within his own business. He was even named as one of the brand’s top sales agents during the year.
“Jason’s success is no doubt 100 per cent his hard work and persistence, but we all sometimes need that sliding door moment,” Ms Han commented.
Citing another strong performer in her team, Ms Han shared the story of Andy Guo, who she claimed has gone “from strength to strength” since starting real estate in property management under her training and leadership.
She highlighted collaboration as one of the stand-out features of their internal processes. Right from the start, Ms Han identified Mr Guo’s strengths and asked him if he wanted to move into sales.
While Mr Guo is now a high-performing lead agent and wrote $650,000 in sales in his first year in sales, Ms Han said that the “exciting part” was that they could tick his personal goal of sending his daughter to the school he and his partner wanted her to attend — a goal that the mother-of-two strongly related to.
“His life has changed, and it’s so incredibly heart-warming to watch his success,” Ms Han remarked.
It’s not just the team that has observed phenomenal growth under Ms Han’s leadership. Notably, Place Sunnybank’s property management team has also doubled within 12 months through organic growth.
Looking forward, Ms Han said the team’s 2023 goal is to find ways to give back further to the community in addition to the local initiatives they have already started while continuing the phenomenal growth within their team.
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